Attorneys for Rostraver murder-for-hire suspect say case details remain elusive

Prosecutors in Westmoreland County must turn over evidence to defense attorneys for a Philadelphia man charged with orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger made the ruling Thursday in the case that resulted in the shooting death of Boyke Budiarachman, also of Philadelphia, in the parking lot of a Rostraver strip mall.

Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli confirmed during a pretrial hearing that documents related to the case against Keven Van Lam remain under seal.

Van Lam, 57, has been in jail since his arrest following the Nov. 5, 2022, killing of Budiarachman, 49. Police contend Van Lam set up and paid $65,000 to hire a hitman who killed Budiarachman as he left a restaurant in the Rostraver Square Shopping Plaza.

Van Lam is charged with criminal homicide, solicitation to commit homicide, conspiracy and tamping with evidence.

Police said Budiarachman was shot twice, including a fatal wound to the top of his head. Prosecutors contend Van Lam was at the shooting scene and allege he and his target had dinner and that he alerted the suspected hitman as they left the restaurant following their meal.

Prosecutors for months kept Van Lam’s identity under wraps, even after his arrest. Details of the case against him remained under seal until after Van Lam’s preliminary hearing last October. Defense attorney David Shrager said prosecutors have continued to keep keep evidence in the case under seal.

Krieger ordered prosecutors to turn over their evidence to the defense within two weeks. The judge also set a deadline for Van Lam’s defense attorneys to file pretrial motions in the case by April 20.

Van Lam remained in a holding cell in the courthouse basement during the hearing after court officials confirmed they were unable to secure a Vietnamese translator. Van Lam, a U.S. Citizen, was assisted by a translator during last fall’s preliminary hearing.

Shrager said Van Lam will require two translators when the case comes to trial.

“The language barrier is what this case is about,” Shrager said.

The defense has argued Van Lam had difficulty communicating with detectives who questioned him following the fatal shooting. According to testimony from police at the preliminary hearing, Van Lam, in heavily accented English, confessed to hiring a hitman in response to claims that Budiarachman had cheated him in a business deal related to an employment agency that provided workers to a meat packing plant in Charleroi.

Van Lam initially denied involvement in the alleged homicide, police said. He told detectives he paid a man he identified as “Mr. Tuan” to initially hit Budiarachman with a baseball bat and later altered the plan so as to shoot his target in the leg, authorities said.

No one else has been charged in connection with the alleged murder-for-hire plot.

Van Lam’s trial has not been scheduled.